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BILLERICA. 



A CENTENNIAL ORATION, 



BY THE 



REV. ELIAS NASON, 



JULY 4, 1876. 



'Oari sunt parentes, cari liberi, propinqui, familiares; sed omnes omniur 
caritates patria una coniplexa est."— Cicero. 



LOWELL : 
PRINTED BY HARDEN AND ROWELL. 

1876r 



BILLERICA 



A CENTENNIAL OIUTION, 



BY THE 



REV. ELIAS NASON, 



JUI.Y 4, 1876. 



" Ciiri sunt parentes, cari liberi, propiiKjui, familiares; sed omnes omnium 
caritates patria una complexa est."— Cicero. 



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LOWELL: 
PKINTED BY MARDP:N AND ROWELL. 

1876. 

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INTRODUCTORY. 



A meeting of citizens called by notices from the pulpits on the Sabbath 
previous, was held in the Town Hall, Billerica, June 6, 1876, to see what measures 
should be taken for the fit celebration of the coming Fourth of July, the nation's 
Centennial. 

After consultation, the following Committee of Arrangements : 

Hon. Geo. P. Elliott, Chairman. 

Albert D. Stantox, Secretary. 
Allan Bottomly, Dea. S. H. King, 

Dea. Edward Spaulding, J. O. Richardson, 

Joseph Jaquith, Geo. E. S. Kinney, 

C. H. Talbot, Wm. S. Gleason, 

F. P. Hill, Dr. Geo. A. Monroe, 

C. H. Hill, E. F. Dickenson. 

L. G. Bryant, Anthony Jones, 

Chas. W. Lund, F. A. Morey, 

Was appointed, with full powers to make such provision as they found practicable 
and expedient at so late a day. They were fortunately able to secure the services 
of the Rev. Elias Nason to give the oration, and other arrangements will be 
indicated in the following brief account of the exercises. 

The cele])ration was held in a beautiful pine grove on the farm of Gardiner 
Parker, Esq., lieside the Concord River, near the Carlisle road. The intense 
heat, oppressive in many places, was tempered by a fresh breeze here, and the 
day was delightful for such a commemoration. Seats and stands for the orator 
and musicians were provided by the town, bountiful tables were spread by the 
ladies, and all was made very attractive to the goodly company of old and young 
assembled. 

At ten o'clock, the Hon. George P. Elliott, president of the day, called the 
meeting to order and in brief words suggested the great significance of the day 
and the hopes of the new century opening before the nation. 

Prayer was offered by the Rev. C. C. Hussey, the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was read by Samuel Tucker. Esq., principal of the Howe School, and the 
Rev. Elias Nason delivered the following oration, which held the close and 
unwearied attention of the audience to its close. 



After the recess which was then taken for dinner, the exercises were 
resumed, and Mr. Frederick P. Hill, toastmaster, offered the following senti- 
ments, which were accompanied hy some very pleasant speaking : 

" The Day we Celebrate," responded to by the Rev. C. P. H. Nason. 

" Our Country," responded to by the Rev. C. C. Hussey. 

" Our Country's President," responded to by the Rev. W. H. Fish. 

" The Commonwealth of Massachusetts," responded to by Dr. F. V. Noyes. 

" The Honorable Old Town of Billerica," responded to by L. W. Faulkner; 
Esq. 

" Our Pilgrim and Puritan Ancestors," responded to by the Rev. H. A. 
Hazen. 

" The Medical Profession," responded to by Dr. Geo. A. Munroe. 

" The Concord River," responded to by a poem written by Dr. D. Parker. 

" The Ladies," responded to by W. W. Warren, Esq. 

" The Spirit of 76," responded to by the Band. 

Owing to the lateness of the hour, other toasts, as to " The Clergy," " The 
Public Schools," "The Press," &c., were omitted. 

A concert and fireworks in the evening closed a day which all must remem- 
ber with pleasure. 



ORATION. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is with no ordinary emotions tliat we assemble in this charming grove on 
the margin of tlie Concord Kiver and in the full bloom and beauty of the year, 
to commemorate the centennial birthday of our national freedom. 

One hundred years have rolled away since the grand old Declaration of 
Independence, just now so well read to you, was amidst the ringing of bells and 
pealing of artiller}', proclaimed to a bravo people then in arms and pledging life 
and sacred honor to sustain the cause of civil libert}'. 

They did sustain it. By wisdom, valor, hardship, sacrifice, wliich connnand 
tlie admiration of the world, they waded through a seven years' bloody war, 
most gloriously won their title to be free, and laid, with unsullied hands, the 
cornerstone of the majestic temple of our civil grandeur, which, after the storm- 
beats of a century, I'ises still resplendently, the hope of nations, and bears upon 
its massive walls, " Salvation," on its golden portals, " Praise." 

It would be a most delightful task to trace the progress of our nation in 
respect to science, literature, art, mechanical invention and industrial enterprise, 
from the ringing of the old Liberty bell in Philadelphia on the natal morn of 
freedom to the magnificent centennial display of the resources of our country in 
that city at the present time, but it seems more appropriate to this occasion, and 
it is also in accordance with tlie reconunendation of the chief executive, that, 
omitting such an inspiring theme, I shoidd rather turn your thought to some 
special points in our own local history, wliich though of minor consequence, still 
may come in as a mosaic, etching, or rosette, to enhance the beauty of the 
national temple, and which though familiar to you, will, I think, from ties of con- 
sanguinity and proximity of place, ever command your attention and respect. 

For name and situation the town of Billeriea is very beautiful. It was so 
called, you are aware, from Billericay in Essex County, England, whence some 
of its early settlers came. Pronounce it as you will, " Billericky," "Billeracky," 
" Billereiky," the origin of the word is rilla rkn, a ricli village ; and rich indeed 
this village is in local scenery — hill and glade and river; local story — Indian, 
French, and revolutionary ; in patriotism, intelligence and every social virtue. 
It is worthy of its fair classic name. Like Billericay in England it is built upon 
an eminence which overlooks the vallev of the Merrimack River, as that the 



valley of the Thames, and the number of people in the English and the 
American Billerica is now just about the same. As an acknowledgement of the 
honor done to her by the adoption of her name, the mother town sent to her 
only daughter a clmrch bell on which was inscribed : " The people of Billericay, 
England, to the people of Billerica, New England," and its clear, silvery tones 
long announced from the old belfry on the common the hour of prayer, or the 
departure of a soiU. 

Originally the extensive tract of land lying on the Shawshine, and between 
the Concord and the Merrimack Elvers bore the euphoneous Indian name of 
Shawshin — meaning "serpentine," or "meandering," and it was called the 
" Shawshin country." It was the frontier of Cambridge on the northwest ; and 
near the confluence of the Concord with the Merrimack River dwelt the 
Wamesit Indians, who under their pacific chieftain, Passaconaway, maintained a 
friendly intercourse with the few English adventurers who had established 
trading-posts along these rivers. 

In 1642 the land was partially surveyed by Capt. Simon Willard and con- 
ditionally granted to the town of Cambridge. The Eev. John Eliot made his 
first visit to the Wamesit Indians in 1647, and it is probable that settlements 
were commenced in this locality as early as the middle of the 17th century. It 
appears that in January, 1654, the following persons were living in what was 
then called the " Towne of Shawshin," and they may justly be denominated the 
fathers of the town of Billerica ; since it was in answer to their petition that the 
town was incorporated on the 29th day of May, 1655, and christened by the 
name of Billerica. I speak their names with pleasure and respect, since they 
were honorable men and many of their lineal descendants are associated in the 
festivities of this delightful day. Ralph Hill, senior, William French, John 
Stearns, William Patten, George Eariey, Ralph Hill, junior, John Crow, James 
Parker, John Parker, Robert Parker, Henry Jefts, William Chamberiain, 
Jonathan Danforth. 

As then incorporated, this town had for its boundaries Merrimack River and 
Chelmsford on the north, Andover on the northeast, Woburn on the southeast, 
with Cambridge and Concord on the south and west. It embraced the present 
town of Towksbury, a part of the town of Bedford, Carlisle and the most beauti- 
ful section of the city of Lowell. It was equal in extent to a European duke- 
dom. It was at that period almost an entire wilderness, covered with a heavy 
growth of pine, cedar, oak, chestnut, birch and maple timber. The bear, the 
wolf, and wildcat prowled in the deep forest ; the beaver built its dam of logs 
across the streams. The red man visited the falls of the Concord and the 
Merrimack Rivers for shad and salmon fishing and for the feast of the powow 
Passaconaway. 

" And merrily when the feast was done. 
On the fire-lit green the dance begun, 
With the squaws' shrill stave, and deeper hum 
Of old men beating the Indian drum." 

WHITTIEK. 



'I'lie Indian raised a little corn and l)eans upon tlie intervales, and used a 
clam shell for a lioe and a sand ])it for his store-house and his burial place. Hut 
few memorials of his race remain. The broken outline of a mound that marked 
his territory, or a skeleton, an arrowhead, a gouge, a bit of wampum, or a 
tomahawk now and then turned up in ploughing, and tlie fair name of " Shaw- 
shine " alone attest that he once had here existence. The savage has no desire, 
no method to perpetuate his memory. Indeed, why should it be perpetuated? 

As we look at the familiar names of the original proprietors of this town 
upon the records ; as we see the walls and buildings they erected, the fields they 
cleared and planted ; as we cross the streams and climb the eminences they 
named, such as "Content Brook," "Fox Hill," " Gilson Hill;" as we visit the 
graves they sleep in and see the forms and faces of their descendants here 
amongst us, it seems but a brief period since they affixed their several names to 
the petition for incorporation ; yet when we set ourselves to measure time by 
great events, we find that we have to travel far to reach the birthday of the town 
of Billerica. It is indeed almost one eighth of the time that has intervened 
between us and the advent of our Saviour. 

To arrive at 1655 we must pass by our dreadful civil war, the introduction 
of the steamship and the railroad, the exploits of Napoleon the First, the atroci- 
ties of the reign of terror, the days of our illustrious Washington and our grand 
old Revolution ; we must traverse the times of the old French wars, of George 
the First, of Addison, Pope, Swift and the Sjjectator, go by the dark days of 
Salem Witchcraft, of the great English Revolution when the house of Stuart fell, 
of King Philip's bloody war, of the fire of London, and come to the protectorate 
of Oliver Cromwell, whose Latin Secretary, John Milton, was then brooding over 
his immortal poem, "Paradise Lost." 

There were when Billerica was incorporated but nine towns in IMiddlesex 
County; the governor and magistrates were appointed by the Lord I'rotector, 
and the manners and customs of the people were entirely different from our own. 
The fathers of this town were rigid puritans. They came to New England to 
escape the imperious mandates of the star chamber and that intolerance w Inch 
prompted James the First to say : " I will make them conform, or I will harry 
them out of the kingdom." They loveil religious liberty ; they preferred to face 
the perils of the savage wilderness rather than to worshij) (iod in forms prescribed 
for them by king or prelate. They were hardy, brave, intelligent yeomen ; 
prompt to meet danger, jealous of any encroachment on their civil rights and 
true as steel to the grand principle which is the very core and kernel of repub- 
lican institutions, that in church, in state and town affairs the majority must 
rule. 

The increase of the town was rapid. Within ten years from the date of 
incorporation lands were granted to Samuel Trull, John Tndl, Nathaniel Hill, 
John Poulter, William Tay, Thomas Foster, Simon Crosby, Samuel Whitney, 
John Marshall, Thomas Willis, John Durant, John Kittredge, Roger Toothaker, 
Joseph Thompson, Peter Brackett, John Baldwin, James Patterson, Thomas 



8 

Hubbard, John Brackett, Robert Parker, AVilliani Hamlet, James Kidder, Samuel 
Kinsley, Golden More, Samuel Kemp, Jacob Brown, John Rogers, jr., Simon 
Bird, James Frost and Samuel Champney. The settlements were conunenced 
along the right bank of the Concord River and in the valley of the Shawshine, in 
order that the meadows from which the main supply of liay was drawn might be 
readily accessible, and that the alewives, shad and salmon with which those 
streams then abounded might be easily secured. The industrious and accurate 
surveyor, Jonathan Danforth, was appointed to lay out the house lots in sections 
of ten or five acres to each citizen, the larger lots entitling the proprietor to 113 
acres of upland and 12 acres of meadow, the other lots to one-half that quantity. 
The conmion land was to be used by every one in proportion to the extent of his 
donuiin, and a proprietor of a single lot, or less, could not dispose of it even to 
his children without permission from the selectmen, or " town's men," as they 
were sometimes called, who exercised much more of authority both in civil and 
in church affairs, tlian those now invested with that office. 

We of the present generation, who in settling find all things in readiness for 
successful husbandry and for comfortable living, can hardly realize what unre- 
mitting toil, what backbone and perseverance it demanded of the emigrants to put 
this new town of the wilderness into " running order." The primeval trees of the 
forest had to be uprooted, houses and barns to be erected, fences to be made, 
roads to be laid out, bridges to be thrown across the streams, and mills to be set 
in motion; a church, a pillory and a pound had to be establislied, the wild lieasts 
and savages to be kept at bay ; and all this witli but the slenderest means and 
rudest instruments. 

It was a brave and beautiful thing to lay the foundation of such a town as 
this, since in such organizations we have the only pure and perfect democracy of 
which this badly governed world can boast. Here the people meet on equal 
terms, freely interchange opinions, cast their votes and have an even chance for 
office and for education. Here tlie manly virtues flourish ; and here gush forth 
the clear and living springs of patriotism that feed and freshen the pulse-beat of 
(the nation. 

; A city has some advantages, but many miseries ; "a town," as Dr. Jeremy 
'Belknap truly says, " consisting of a due mixture of hills, valleys and streams 
of water, the land well fenced and cultivated, the roads and bridges in good 
repair, decent inns for tlie refreshment of travellers and for jiublic entertainment, 
the inhabitants mostly husbandmen, their wives and daughters domestic manu- 
facturers, a suitable proportion of handicraft workmen and two or three traders, 
a physician and a lawyer, a clergyman of good understanding and exemplary 
morals, not a metaphysical, nor a polemic, but a serious i)ractical preacher, a 
schoolmaster who should understand liis business and teach his pupils to govern 
themselves, a social library annually increasing and under good regulations, a 
decent musical society, no intriguing politician, horse-jockey, gambler, or sot ; 
such a situation nuiy be considered as the most favorable to local happiness of 
any which this world can afford." Such a town our forefathers founded, and for 
it let their names be held in perpetual remembrance. 



9 

The toAvn was doubtless organized Ly the choice of public officers in 1655; 
but unfortunately the earlj' records are so mutilated that it is impossible for us 
now to know who were the first men chosen to manage the municipal aiYairs. 
On the Uth day of November, 1G59, it was agreed by a majority of the town, 
which until the jjri'sent century seems to have performed the functions of a 
parish, as well as those of a municipality, that there should be a meeting-house, 
thirty feet long, twenty-seven feet wide, and three feet between the studs. 
Ralph Hill, senior, (Jeorge Farley and Jonnthan Danforth were to engage the 
workmen, and the roof was to be covered with thatch, or straw. 

A yenr at least prior to this vote, the I\ev. Samuel Whiting had been preach- 
ing here in the private dwelling-houses, and the people had agreed to give him in 
country produce if he should consent to be settled as their pastor, £40 for each of 
the first two j-ears, £50 for the third j'ear, £60 for the fourth, together with a ten 
acre lot and a comfortable house; also " to better his maintainance as the Lord 
should better their estates." On the lltli day of November, 1663, a church was 
organized with a few members, and the beloved minister ordained as pastor. The 
expenses of the occasion were £6, Is. 8d., of which ardent spirits, we may well 
presume, from the custom of the olden times, formed no inconsiderable item. 
Josepli Thompson and James Frost were ajipointed deacons. 

The first marriage in the place was that of Jonathan Danforth and Elizabeth 
Poulter, November 22d, 1654; the next was that of John Baldwin and Mary 
Richardson, solemnized by Capt. Edward Johnson of AVoburn, May 15th of the 
year ensuing. The first white person born here was John Sterne (Stearns) son 
of John Sterne and his wife Sarah, who came into existence sometime during the 
second week in May of the last named 3'ear; and the first death that saddened 
the hearts of the people was that of Hannah Foster, daughter of Henry and his 
wife Sarah Foster, who departed this life in the first Aveek of May, 1653. Where 
the remains of those who first deceased in town Mere laid we cannot now deter- 
mine ; but on the 10th of April, 1663, the public-spirited Ralph Ilill, senior, " gave 
ye towne half an acre of land for ye burial place,"' which sacred spot, enlarged 
and beautified, has continued now for more than two centuries to receive to its 
silent trust the relics of the dead. The oldest inscription I have been able to 
decipher in it is the following : 

" Here lyes the Body of John Rogers, aged 74 years. Dyed, March 24, lOSG." 

Tlie names of the first selectmen now legilile in the records are John Parker, 
Lt. William French, Ralph Hill, senior, Thomas Foster and Jonathan Danforth. 
They were chosen March 5th, 16G0, and at the same time John Sterne (Stearns) 
and John Baldwin were appointed assessors. 

The meeting-house stood on the connnon near the site of the monument 
raised a few years since in honor of the soldiers of Billerica lost in the late war ; 
tlie pound and the pillory, or "cage," as it Avas sometimes called, stood near it. 
The people were sunnnoned to church b\- tlie beating of a drum, and the men 
brought their rude fire-locks with them to the service. The selectmen seated 



10 

the people in the meeting-house according " to age and pay ;" for then, as in the 
days of Jesus, and I regret to add, as in our own days, the first seats in the 
synagogue were greatly coveted. Tythingmen were stationed with long poles 
in the corners to keep the boys in order, an hour-glass was placed on the pulpit 
to remind the preacher of the flight of time, and a sounding-boai'd himg over his 
head to reflect his precious words into the ears of the congregation. " If he does 
not speak the truth," whispered the "pagans," as they denominated those out- 
side of the church, "it will fall upon his pate and kill him." The men of the con- 
gregation rose in front of tlie minister and sang congregationally fi-om "the Bay 
Tsalm Book," one of the deacons giving out the psalm line by line, like this : 

"'The rivers on, of Babylon, 
There where we did set down, 
Yea, even then we mourned wlien, 
We remembered Zion." 

It was sung to some doleful tune, as " Oxford," or " St. Mary's," which had 
been learned by rote of some precentor wlio perhaps could read the notes of good 
old Henry Ainsworth's Manual of Song. The women were not allowed to sing, 
nor were any musical instniments admitted into the sanctuary ; it is indeed 
quite doubtful whether any tiling of the kind, except the drum and jewsharp, 
was for many years heard in town. Our fathers had too much hard work to do 
to attend to music ; and only three or fom- tunes were sung in the churches at 
this i^eriod. 

In the year IGCiO William Ilaile was paid £1 "for keeping ye meeting- 
house," and it was voted on the 2()th day of March of that year, that "ye 
keeper of ye Pound shall have 2d. for turning ye key." In the year ensuing the 
town had as many as fifty-eight soldiers, and it was agreed to build a fortifica- 
tion of brick and stone, twenty-six feet long and twent_y-two feet wide, for 
defence against the enemy. 

In 1668 (Jan. 20th,) " the town declared that it formerly agreed to give Mr. 
Whiting one pound of butter upon every milch cow annually in part of pay; " 
but whether that butter ever " came " the clerk omitted to record. In the year 
ensuing, the town offered a reward of half a penny per head to any person who 
should kill a woodpecker, a blackbird or a " jaw "; and on the 18th of June, 
1670, " did agree to give to Thomas Foster for his son Hopcstill for his 
service to the company in drumming, 20s. for the time past." Two years later 
"Thomas Crosby was chosen to keep a house of publick entertainment." This 
tavern, together with the blacksmith's shop, the fortification, and the mill already 
erected on Content Brook, was the place of resort of our forefathers for the 
discussion of the questions of the day, of which the movements of the savages 
and the division of the lands of the town were among the most important. 

On the 17th of November, 1673, £1, 5s. was paid for "thatching ye meeting- 
house and 3-0 straw ; " also 10s. to Mr. Blood for "a woolff's head." Wolves 
were then very numerous and destructive to the sheep ; the town subsequently 
paid many such rewards. 



11 

In 1(574 tlio town onlereil all its eliildivn and vdiUIi to l»c sent to Mr. Whi- 
ting for instruction in the Assenil)Iy's Catecliisin, on wliicli celehrated work lie 
preached a series of disconrses to the parents, 'riiouji,!! ritiid in doctrine, tlie 
early settlers of Hillerica were not morose, lender a rough exterior, they car- 
ried kindly hearts. From the records it is evident that they cared for one 
another and lent a helping; hand to each other in time of need. As a body 
they were more intelligent than the settlers of some of the neighboring towns ; 
they did not sign their names with a "John, his mark." They had a grand 
good minister — the town has always had grand good ministers — they had a 
grand good leader in Capt. Jonathan Danforth; the town has always had grand 
good leaders. They were less aristocratic in their pretensions than the settlers 
of some of our towns; there were but few who sneered at a man for hoeing 
corn without his gloves; there are but few who do it now; they cherished the 
sweet feelings of fraternity ; the people here have always cherished the sweet 
feelings of fraternity; and cherish them more and more I trust they ever may: 
since what do we live for, ladies and gentlemen, but to do good and to communi- 
cate '. 

Tlie affairs of the new town had proceeded prosperously for twenty years, 
when all upon a sudden peril came. 

There were in 1675 not more than 40,(100 white inhabitants in the entire 
state. These were sparsely scattered in towns remote from each otiier and 
occupying in many instances advanced positions in the wilderness, riiilip, of 
Pokanoket, jealous of the encroachment of the English on the Indian territory, 
eager to avenge the death of his brother Alexander and the execution of the 
witnesses against the murderers of John Sausamon, indignant also that he and 
his people had in 1071 been deprived of tire arms, determined in confederation 
with the other sachems to exterminate the hated pale faces, root and brancii. 
He commenced his atrocities in Swansea on the 24th of June, 1675, and his 
swarthy warriors with the t(nnaliawk and scalping knife hung like vampires for 
many numths upon the borders of the English settlements. The savages fought 
in ambuscade, they encircled, they outnumbered the whites, they spared neitlier 
age, sex nor condition ; they laid every dwelling-house and barn which they 
could reach in ashes ; and hence the English on this continent, before or since 
that period, were never in such peril ; never in proportit)n to their number under- 
went such loss of life and property as in that bloody war. It is marvellous, 
indeed, that any of them escaped. 

"It is not know^n," says Mr. John Farmer in his excellent historical memoir 
of the Town of Billerica, " that this town received any essential injury during 
King rinlip's war." Other writers have without examination copied him; but 
this town did suffer essential injury during that sanguinary contest, and there was 
an actual fight between our forefathers and the Indians just two hundred years 
ago on yonder hill. From tlieir proximit\' to the Wamesit Indians, the inhabi- 
tants of the northerly part of the town abandoned their homes soon after the 
opening of the war and sought protection in those towns more strongly fortified ; 



12 

some of the soldiers, jilso, were engageil in (listiint exiieditions against the 
enemy. 

On the 2tl day of August, 1675, Timothy Farley, of this town, and a member 
of Ca.pt. Thomas Wheeler's company, was killed with several others in an en- 
counter with the Indians between a hill and a thick swamp at Quaboag, now 
Brookfield. Corporal John French of this town was in the same fight, and hav- 
ing shot an Indian, received while bringing up his gun a ball which cut off one 
of his thumbs and dangerously wounded him in the body near the shoulder. " In 
consideration of that weakness as to his wounds in the country's service," his 
town and county taxes were for several years abated, and he was allowed to sit 
in church at the table with Capt. John Lane and Mr. Crosby, while his wife was 
permitted to sit " in the front gallery with Mrs. Foster and those women placed 
there." (Town Records, p. 104.) Thus Billerica blood was spilled in the fore- 
front of that great struggle, as we shall find it to have been in struggles yet to 
come. 

On the 13th day of August, 1675, it was agreed in public meeting, " on 
account of the enemy being near," and "the warnings of God's providence upon 
our neighbors being very solemn and awful to prepare a place of safety for 
women and children," and Sergt. Foster, Sergt. Thompson, Samuel Manning and 
Jonathan Danforth were appointed " overseers of the same." As the work of 
devastation was seen to be approaching, twelve garrisons were establislied in 
October, that is, twelve houses were surrounded with palisades, the brush and 
underwood cleared away so as to afford no lurking place for the enemy, i>ort- 
holes Avere made in the walls and soldiers stationed as a guard. To these gar- 
risons the forty-eight families then in town were directed to repair. " The main 
garrison," says the Town Eecord, "and the last refuge in case of extremity," was 
the house of the Eev. Mr. Whiting, and he himself the commander. His house 
stood on Churnstaff Lane, between the Boston and Concord roads, but a sliort 
distance from the church, and the cost of fortifying it was £8, Os. 'Jd. The other 
buildings fortified belonged severally to Ralph Hill, Thomas Foster, Simon 
Crosby, Thomas Patten, James Patterson, Jacob French, James Kidder, Jona- 
than Danforth, Timothy Brooks, George Farley and Job Lane. Mr. l\ichard 
Daniel, a gentleman who visited the Wamesit Indians with Mr. Eliot in 1674, 
and heard Wanalancet avow his acceptance of Christianity, was also allowed to 
fortify liis house. (Town Records, p. 121.) 

Pent up in these narrow garrisons, the corn unharvested, provisions scanty, 
communication cut oft', the families of this town, mourning in some instances 
the loss of relatives, trembling at every footfall, and in momentary expectation 
of hearing the dreadful cry : " They are upon us !" must have passed the winter 
of 1675-6 in such anxiety as tliose doomed to utter ruin only can experience. 
It was the darkest day New England ever knew. But the enemy was still 
approaching. On the 10th of February, 167G, Lancaster was reduced to ashes ; 
then Medfield, Groton, Marlborougli were destroyed ; then Chelmsford was 
attacked, and on the 10th of March, " two houses," Hubbard, the historian says. 



13 

"were Imnied in BilkM-ica." < )ii Smid.-iv, tlic 'Jtli of A]nil, w liilr tlic jifojilf wore 
at t'liiiivli, till' Indians suddenly " 1)i'si't HiliiTica round aliout," shot down one of 
tlie peojile and with tiioir tion(Hsh warhcjoj) advanced to the work of destruction; 
l)ut the minister was a man of pluck, tlie jieople grasped tlieir muskets anil under 
the guidance of such men as Whiting, Danforth, Tliomiison, French and Crosby, 
presented sucli a front tluit the savages soon retreated and twelve days after- 
wards cut down ('apt. Wadswortli and his followers in the town of Sudbury. 

On the I'JtIi of August the crafty I'liilip fell at Mount Hope, the gafrison 
houses were thrown open and the people returned in peace to their own habita- 
tions. But the town was very i)oor and fears were entertained that it would 
have to be abandoned. From a jietition made to the General Court, Oct. 12, 
1(576, for an abatement of taxes on account of losses sustained by the war, it 
api>ears that six persons Avith tlieir families and cattle removed from the north 
part of the town, and that the charges for keephig garrison soldiers amounted to 
as much in all as the billeting of one man for 420 weeks. The petition also 
states that "many of our inhabitants are growne very low, severall persons at 
this time having no bread, corne, yet considerable families to provide for." 
(Mass. Archives, Military, p. G'J.) 

In 1684, Jonathan Danforth was chosen to represent the town in the General 
Court ; it having been done prior to this period by Humphrey Davie of Boston, 
for which service the town presented him a "fat beast"; and it also granted a 
tract of land to John Dunkin for furnishing the animal and driving it to Boston. 
( )ther early representatives were Kalph Hill, Joseph Thompson, Samuel Man- 
ning, Thomas Richardson, John Stearns, George Brown and Oliver Whiting. 

In 1688 occurred the downfall of the House of Stuart, and in consequence 
what was called " King William's War," during which the Indians, instigated by 
the French, again dug up tlie hatchet and set themselves upon the war path. 
Coming stealthfuUy upon the northern section of the town they massacred on 
the first day of August, 1692, Mrs. Anna, wife of Mr. Zachary Shed, and two of 
their children, Agnes and Ilamiah ; Joanna, wife of Benjamin Dutton, and two 
of her children by a former husband, bearing the names of Mary and Benoni 
Dunkin — in all six persons ; yet I find but very slight allusion to this tragic 
scene upon the records of the town. While the very trivial entry is nuide that 
at a meeting of the selectmen, Aug. 2'Jtli, " we had two pots of cidre and dinner 
for five men and halfe a pynt of liquor, two pots of silibub," the sad fate of the 
Shed, Dutton and Dunkin families is not referred to until a heavier calamity 
falls upon the town. 

As an honest narrator, I am compelled to say, ladies and gentlemen, that 
there are now, and always have been, witches in this town of Billerica ; many a 
man has been bewitched by them and hung at least to an apron-string ; but it is 
painful to relate that Mrs. Martha Carrier who had recently removed hence to 
Andover, was arrested with her sister Mrs. Toothaker, and brought into the court 
at Salem for trial on the next day after the above-mentioned massacre took 
place. On the evidence of mischievous children mainly, she was convicted of 



14 

practising " certain detestable arts called witchcrafts and sorceries," and was, 
though protesting her innocence to tlie last, inhumanly executed, with the Kev. 
George Burroughs and others, August 11th, 1092, on Gallows Hill in Saleui. As 
a specimen of the evidence on which this good wonum was convicted, one Foster 
" confessed," says Cotton Matlier, " that the devil carried them on a pole to a 
witch meeting; but the pole broke and she hanging about Carrier's neck, they 
both fell down and she then received an hurt by the fall whereott' she was not at 
this v^ry time recovered." Of her Cotton Mather roughly said: "This rampant 
hag was the person of whom tlie confessions of the witches and of her own 
children among the rest agreed that the devil had promised her that she should 
lie Queen of Hell." lie sat upon his horse and saw her and the other victims 
of this strange delusion executed ; yet some people still laud Cotton Matlier ! U 
superstition! what a blot thou art upon the fair face of humanity! When as 
many as twenty had been executed and he saw the rope might reach his own 
neck, this politic divine, who was more the governor of the state than Sir Wil- 
liam riiips himself, most prudently took olf the thumbkins and admitted that 
the game had been too seriously played. (Upham's "Salem Witchcraft," vol. 2, 
p. 20'j.) 

Thomas, the husband of Martha Carrier, died at Colchester, Conn., May 10, 
1735, at the advanced age of 109 years, the oldest man that ever lived in Bille- 
rica; so you see, ladies and gentlemen, that marrying a witch, or burying a 
witch, or breathing the air of Billerica does not shorten one's days ; and if any 
man here is now bewitched of a witch, I say, " be hanged to him, the witch, I 
mean, and may he live as long as good old Thomas Carrier and leave as many 
little witches behind him." 

In the year 1G93 I find this very cheering record, alike honorable to th.e 
spirit of the Kev. Mr. Whiting and the town: "Oct. 30. Our Bevcrend Pastor 
did set at libertie and free from his service Simon Negro, who hath been his 
servant about 30 and one years, being now about 40 years old, the which 
said Simon Negro the town of Billerica duly accept as an inhabitant amongst 
themselves." 

This is the first instance of the manumission of a slave that I have seen 
recorded in the state of Massachusetts. IIa<l Mr. Whiting lived in our day, he 
would have shaken hands with William L. Garrison, and I should have tipjied 
my beaver very low to him. 

In 1G94 the thatched covered meeting-house was found to be too small to 
accommodate the people, and so on the 10th day of July, forty-five hands of 
the town and others came together at the beat of the drum to raise a new and 
larger one. It was an arduous task to lift the frame of that old church, forty- 
four feet long and forty wide ; ))ut the town clerk recorded that there was not a 
bone broken, and that " we concluded with a psalm of praise and returned tlianks 
to God by our Eeverend Pastor." 

There was a distinction between a hat and a bonnet in those days. The 
women wore their bonnets right side up and Vandyke handkerchiefs, so in finish- 



16 

ing the house an alloy 3i feet wide was made l)etween the men and women's 
seats, and in other parts of the eluuvh tables were plaeed as lines of demarcation. 
At this period the men wore high slouched and broad-brimmed hats, long coats, 
short-clothes and silver knee-buckles; the women, hoods, kirtles, farthingales 
and high-heeled slippers. They spun and wove their own garments, and the 
living consisted of corn and rye bread, beef, pork, mutton, game, fish, bean por- 
ridge and pumpkin pie. The turnip was used instead of the potato. Orchards 
were early planted, and cider, often "roasted," that is heated over glowing coals 
and seasoned with a red pepper, was a common leverage. The peoi)le sjioke of 
each other as " good man Dutton," "good wife Shed," and never omitted civil 
or military titles, as "Corporal French," " Cornet Stearns," " Ensign Whiting," 
" Capt. Hill," "Landlord Crosby" and " Squire Kidder." 

Although three or more " watches" were observed in town and a small party 
of horsemen kept continually on the scout, the Indians on the 5th of August 
1095, entered stealthfully on the northern side of the Concord Kiver, and killed 
in open day at one fell swoop, John and Thomas Rogers, Thomas Rogers, junior, 
the mother-in-law and five children of John Levistone, and Mary, the wife of 
Dr. Roger Toothaker, who lived in the house still standing at the junction of the 
Middlesex Canal with Concord River. John Rogers was shot by an arrow in 
the neck and expired in wrenching tlie fatal instrument from his wound ; and two 
of his children, Daniel and Mary, were taken captives. A woman in the house, 
which stood not far from that of the honored president of the day, escaped by 
leaping from the window and concealing herself in the underbrush. Another 
woman was scalped and left for dead, but afterwards recovered. Fourteen or 
fifteen persons wore either killed or captured in this fearful onslaught. The 
Indians, supposed to be the Contocooks, were at once pursued by the people from 
the central village, but succeeded in effecting their escape. It is said, however, 
that some of them were killed and buried in a hollow in the old cemetery at tlie 
corner, where I find the headstone of the second wife of Dr. Roger Toothaker, 
bearing this inscription: " Here lyes ye body of Sarah Toothaker, wife of Dr. 
Roger Toothaker, aged 43 years, 7 mos. Did March 8, 1717-18." 

In faint and almost illegible letters this record of the tragedy appears on the 
annals of the town : 

Aug. 5, 1G95. "This day we received that awfuU strooake by the enemy — 
fifteen persons slain and taken. More sad than we met withall three years 
before when we met upon the occasion." 

It was a fortunate day for Billerica, tliough not prior to the 18th century, 
when the Abbot, Bowers, Jaquith, Stickney and Spaulding families came to live 
in it. They are of that class of people who persist in being friendly to you, 
whether you will or not. Would you not like a few more such immigrants ? 

On the 7th of September, 1712, the town was called to mourn the loss of 
Capt. Jonathan Danforth, one of its most eminent founders, who died at the 
advanced age of 85 years. He was the leading civil engineer and land survej-or 
of his time, and ke])t the records of the town for the space of twenty years. 



16 

Most of the farms of this and tlie neighboring towns were laid out by him, and 
some of his well-drawn plans are now in my possession. From them the original 
estates can be in general identified. Truly a poet of that day said of him: 

" He rode the circuit, chained great towns and farms 
To good behavior; and by well marked stations 
He fixed their bounds for many generations." 

"An hour before sunset," on the last day of February ensuing, his beloved 
pastor, the Rev. Samuel Whiting followed him to the silent land. His father 
was the Eev. Samuel Whiting of Lynn ; his mother, Elizabeth, was the sister of 
Oliver St. John, Lord Chief Justice of England in the time of Oliver Cromwell. 
He was graduated at Cambridge College in 1053, and married l^orcas Chester of 
Watertown, Nov. 12th, 1(556, by whom he had seven sons and four daughters. 
His son John was killed by the Indians at Lancaster, September 11th, 1G97, and 
his son Samuel was in captivity by the Indians in 1711. Mr. Whiting was a 
faithful pastor, brave, generous and noble. lie was thoroughly identified with 
the interests of the people; and to his courage, foresight and counsel the town is 
largely indebted for its salvation from entire destruction b_v the savages. Well 
was it said of him : 

" Whiting, we here beheld a starry light. 
Burning in Christ's right liand and shining bright ; 
Years seven times seven sent forth his precious rays, 
Unto the gospel's profit and Jehovah's praise." 

Still incited by the Frcncli, the Indians were by no means quiet, and I find 
that in 1718 Billerica had a compan}- of nineteen "snow-shoe men," whose diver- 
sion was to hunt wolves and red men during the rigors of the winter season. 

When the famous Capt. John Lovewell, of Dunstable, made his daring expedi- 
tion against the bold Chieftain Paugus at Pequawket in the spring of 1725, three 
men, born in Billerica, were of his company. Of these, Jonathan Kittredge fell 
beside Capt. Lovewell in the very thickest of the fight ; Benjamin Kidder, son of 
James Kidder, was left with a guard, sick at the fort on Lake Ossipee, and 
recovering, died at the capture of Louisbourg under Pepperell in 1745; and 
Solomon Kies fought till he had received three womids, when he cried out to 
Ensign Seth Wyman ; " I'm a dead man !" but still had strength enough remain- 
ing to roll himself into a boat in which he was floated across the Lake to the 
fort at Ossipee. Ensign Seth Wyman, who assumed the command after Love- 
well fell, and who, according to the ancient ballad, which our forefathers often 
sang in the winter evenings by the ample fireside : 

" Shot the old chief, Paugus, and did the foe defeat, 
Then set his men in order and brought oif the retreat," 

married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Boss, of Billerica, January 20, 1715; so that 
this town, again 3'ou see, was at the front when life and liberty were imperilled.* 

*See the Expeditions of Capt. John Lovewell, by Frederick Kidder, p. 9C. 



17 

In 172!l a rib \v;is cut out of BillcricM to form ;i i>;irt of the town of Bedford ; 
and five years later, a niueli larger one to make tlie town of Tewksbury ; still 
the people niultiplied, and the next year, 17;>8, erected a new niectinji-house, 
sixty feet by forty, which is yet standing- on the easterly side of the connnon. 

About this time the Irish potato, best of esculents, was intnxbiced into the 
town by ()ne of the Manniiiij; family, who, for a wonder, raised a bushel as the 
first ero]) and used the article as a kind of salail, served up with pepper, salt and 
vinegar. 

In 17;>i there were eight colored persons in town, and one of them, Lydia 
York, was paid £15, old tenor, the ensuing year, for sweeping the meeting-house 
which was still seated according to "age and pay." A family of the unfortunate 
Acadians, or Frencli neuti-als, from Grand Pre, whose tragic fate has been so 
touchingly portrayed by Mr. Longfellow in his "Evangeline," was in 175t') 
billeted on this town. They were treated kindly, the people supplying them 
with articles of food and raiment at tlie public expense; as for example, Mr. 
William Bowers was allowed in 1757 os. 8d. for supplying the French family 
with " a bushel of patates and half a bushel of beans." The name of tliis family 
was Landeree. It lived in the house of Mrs. Judith Kidder. 

Nothing could be done in those days, from the christening of a child to the 
burial of the dead, without the use of alcohol, and this year the town allowed to 
"Oliver Abbot 8d. for a quart of Rhum when the old Pound was pulled down." 
"Deer Eeeves" were still chosen, and the "stocks" were kept in repair for the 
necks of the wicked ones. 

On the 26th of January, 1763, Henry CJummings of HoUis, N. H., and H. C. 
1760, S.T.D. 1800, was ordained as the fourth minister, liis predecessors having 
been Samuel "Whiting, Samuel Ruggles, and John Chandler, and a white day 
indeed it was for Billerica, since he proved to be a very able and learned divine 
and faithfully discharged the duties of a pastor here for more than 60 years. 
He was tall and commanding in person ; he had a strong voice and exercised a 
powerful influence in moulding the minds and in training the hearts of tlie 
people. He left as many as seventeen printed sermons and discourses, one of 
which was preached at the close of a half-century of liis ministerial career. 
There are doubtless persons present who can well remember his tall and digni- 
fied form, his three-cornered hat, his white bands, his silver knee buckles, and 
the respect and consideration which his venerable presence everywhere com- 
manded. The influence of such a "country parson" is often mightier than that 
of the fashionable city preaclier. It sometimes moves the government and reaches 
into foreign courts. Under such a minister in Groton the Lawrence family 
sprang up, whose honored names cities and scientific institutions perpetuate. 
Dr. Henry Cummings was a patriot who left his mark upon liis age, and it is 
still distinctly visible. 

The number of people had in 17()5 increased to 13:54, of whom fourteen 
were colored, vet I do not find that thev were held as slaves. 



IS 

But, ladies and gentlemen, a tremendous struggle was impending. The 
repeated aggressions of the British king and parliament on our rights must be 
resisted. The prineiples of freedom, long cherished in the American breast, 
must come front to front with tlie t.yrannic measures of the Englisli ministry, 
and that mighty question which affects the destin}' of this wliole world be solved 
and settled. Was Billerica now idle '. Xo, ladies and gentlemen, I answer, No ! 
She waa one of the first and foremost towns to avow her intention to sustain the 
cause of liberty, cost what it might. It surprises me to read the record of the 
resolutions, said to have been mainh' drawn up by the Rev. Mr. Cummings, 
which the town unanimously adopted. As early as December, 1767, the town 
voted not to use articles imported from abroad, such as "loaf sugar, thread lace, 
gold and silver buttons, silks, cambrics, women's and children's stays, snuff, 
mustard, clocks and watches," or indeed anything which could be made at home 
or was not absolutely needed. On the 29th of August, 1768, the town chose 
William Stickney, esq. to represent it in a convention to be held in Faneuil 
Hall " to deliberate on the critical state of public affairs." On the 1st of Febru- 
ary, 1778, it voted and resolved "that the late acts of rarliament for raising a 
revenue in the colonies" and the stationing of fleets to enforce compliance, "are 
intolerable grievances " and that " they would assist their brethren in the common 
cause throughout the continent." On the loth of May, 1774, the town expressed 
its abhorrence of the act permitting tea to be shipped to America; and I sup- 
pose that sassafras, sage and pennyroyal took the place in every family of old 
Bohea. 

It was resolved in town meeting, held on the Otli of June following, " that a 
right to tax America has no better foundation in equity and reason than the 
unlimited prerogatives of Prince Charles the First, and James the Second, for 
the which the one lost his life and the other his kingdom." Mr. Ebenezer 
Bridge, who had recently come to live in town, Mr. Joshua Abbot, Capt. Josiah 
Bowers, Mr. Ralph Hill, Dr. Timothy Danforth, Mr. WiUiam Thompson and 
Mr. Solomon Pollard, were then chosen a committee of cori'espondence. 

On the 22d day of September, 1774, it was voted in that old meeting-house 
whose remnants front the common on the east — it should be as sacred to 
Billerica as the Old South Ohurch is to Boston — " that our rejjresentative pay no 
regard to the King's new nuuidamus council, nor proceed to act with them ;" and 
" that if the governor should dissolve, prorogue, or adjourn the court, that our 
representative joine the house in forming a new congress." 

Here, ladies and gentlemen, was the very key-note of the American Revolu- 
tion, struck by this town in that old church on the 22d day of September, 1774. 
Let it ring on forever! When official tyranny becomes int(jleral)le, let a new- 
congress come. 

At the next meeting the town voted to pay the provincial tax, the sinew of 
war, into the hands of Henry Gardner of Stow, receiver of the new congress ; 
and on the od of January, 1775, to send William Stickney, esq., to represent it 
in that illustrious bodv. 



19 

On the following day it forwarded forty -eight and one-lialf Inisliels of rye, 
two and one-half bnshels of corn, and £•'), 7s. Of, in money, to assist the citizens 
of Boston, and it was agreed on tlie od of Ajn-il that the inhabitants "entirely 
discontinno the giving of any gloves at funerals," also that " we will use our 
utmost efforts to prevent the troops now stationed in Boston from being supplied 
with materials for annoying the inhabitants of the country," and that "we will 
not suffer any team to load in, or after h)a(le<l, to pass through this town witli 
any timber, boards, spars, pickets, tent-poles, canvas, brick, iron, waggons, carts, 
carriages, intrenching tools, oats, or any materials for making any of the car- 
riages or implements aforesaid, unless the teamster can produce from one of the 
committee of correspondence for the town where he loaded, an instrument certi- 
fying his name, place of abode, the particulars of his load, the person who sends, 
and to whom to be delivered." The town also voted that " the alarm list meet 
and form into a companj' on the day that the standing companies train." It 
was also voted, April 14th, " that the town furnish the minute men with bayonets 
and cartridge boxes." 

Thus, resolution after resolution to meet Tlie e.xigciu-e, was unanimously 
adopted ; and on the 23d day of May, 177G, just one century and forty-two da3-s 
ago, this town unanimously and gloriously voted, — Dr. Timotlu* Danforth 
being moderator — " that if the Hon'''" Congress, for the safety of the Colonies, 
declared them independent of Great Britain, they, the said inhabitants, will 
engage with their lives and fortunes to support them." 

The Honorable Congress did for the safety of those colonies, on the fourth 
day of July, 1770 — just one century ago to-day — "solenmly publish and declare 
that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be. Free and Independent 
States." This world swung forward when those words were spoken, as when 
Christ, the son of God, was born, — and tlie voice of Billerica was not silent. 

But did she translate her spirited resolutions into action i Yes, indeed, with 
the alacrity of men meaning business. Xever was a town more alive and wide 
awake than Billerica in 1775-G. Connnittees were appointed to hunt up the 
rusty bayonets, bloodied in the old French war; muskets were repaired and 
burnished; the stock of powder was replenished; a company of minute men 
was formed, and the two other companies were drilled weekly on the common. 

Here a party was engaged in running bidlets; here another in making car- 
tridges; here a group of women was busied in sewing haversacks and blankets, 
and here a gi-oup of children in braiding cord for uniforms. Every man was 
anxious to possess a firelock, and sometimes much risk was incurred to obtain 
one. For instance, one of the citizens of Billerica, Thomas Ditson, junior, who 
happened to be in Boston on the 9th of March, 1775, was, while endeavoring to 
purchase a musket of a British soldier, arrested under the pretence that he was 
tempting him to desert. Having tarred and feathered "the Yankee," as they 
called him, a company of Col. Nesbit's regiment fastened him to a chair, placed 
it upon a truck and escorted him through the streets, the band playing " Yankee 
Doodle," to the "Libertv Tree" and tluMi set hin\ free. He afterwards oljtained 



20 

k gun and did good service witii it through the Revolution. It were far more 
honorable to wear a coat of tar and feathers in tlie cause of liberty than of gold 
lace in that of those who thus insulted him. It was on this occasion that the 
rebel tune, " Yankee Doodle," had for the first time English words set to its 
rollicksome measures. 

"Yankee Doodle cam? to town 
For to buy a firelock , 
We will tar and featlier Iiini, 
And so we will John Hancock." 

But the distinguished patriot they had not the pleasure of so dressing; and it is 
well known to you that in a most critical moment a few weeks later, Mr. Amos 
Wyman, of Billerica, afforded him and Samuel Adams a shelter.* 

When the alarm of the advance of 800 British grenadiers on Lexington, 
April 19, 1775, reached Billerica, the bell was rung, the drums beat to arms, and 
Capt. Jonathan Stickney's company with that of Capt. Edward Farmer and the 
minute men were immediately on the march towards Concord. They arrived in 
season to annoy the British in their retreat through Lincoln, and during the 
sharp skirmish in that town one of our men, Nathaniel Wyman, fell, and John 
Nichols and Timothy Blanchard were wounded. Discovering a red-coat making 
ready to fire at him from behind a tree, Lt. Asa Spaulding, grandfather of our 
beloved Dea. Edward Spaulding, leveled his gun at him and saw him fall. On 
his return to town he brought with him a captive soldier, whom he kept for some 
time at his house in the west part of the town, as " a specimen of the red-coats." 

It is well known to you, ladies and gentlemen, that old Bunker Hill was first 
baptized with Billerica blood. Asa Pollard, who lived near the Fordway, was 
the first man killed in that sanguinary battle. In May preceding, at the old 
Pollard tavern house-, still standing, Ebenezer Bridge was elected colonel, and 
Dr. John Brooks, of Medford, afterwards governor of the state, major of the 
27th regiment of foot, which embraced Capt. Jonathan Stickney's company of 
volunteers from Billerica. 

On Friday evening, June 16th, Col. Bridge's regiment, with packs and 
entrenching tools, commenced its march towards Charlestown, and at twelve 
o'clock that starry night, with the men of war on the right and left, the British 
army on the front, began silently to raise the little redoubt, just where the monu- 
ment now stands. There might have been in all 1200 men. They worked on steadily 
and unobserved until the morning broke, when the booming of the guns of the 
British frigate " Lively " wakened General Howe and his whole army to the situ- 
ation. Soon the whole fleet opened a concentric fire upon the fort; yet still the 
men within worked on. But one shot from the " Somerset," lying at the ferry, 
took effect, and that struck off the head of Asa I'ollard, an old Indian hunter of 
Billerica, spattering the blue coat of Col. Prescott and the fresh earth with his 
gore. " What shall be done ? " enquired a comrade. " Bury him ! " replied the 

*See Charles Hudson's History of Lexington, p. 173. 



21 

gallant Prcscott. "What! without prayers ? " "Yos!" said the commander 
of the day, "bury him and let tlie work go on," and then he walked with 
folded arms along the crest of the embankment to inspire his raw recruits with 
confidence. In the terrific onslaught that followed, Hillerica lost Timothy 
Toothaker, Benjamin Easty, Benjamin Wilson and Samuel Hill. Col. Bridge 
was twice wounded. The musket did the praying on that day. 

This battle changed the destiny of the world. It was the first grand resist- 
ance on the field of freemen against kingly usurpation. It! was the inscription 
of those rights in letters of blood which make this nation over every other 
nation glorious ; and the very first letter of that inscription was made by Asa 
Pollard of Billerica. His name therefore is known, and will be known in story. 
The town continued to exhibit the same patriotic spirit, raising its full quota of 
men and money, through the Bevolution. It was bravely represented in all the 
great battles of the war. 

On the 22d of June, 1779, the town elected the Eev. Henry Cummings as its 
delegate to the convention for the formation of the state constitution; and 
when Daniel Shays in 1786 rebelled against the state authority, the town 
sent its company of artillery through a January snow storm, under command of 
Major Jonathan Stickney, to guard the court at Cambridge. This gallant officer 
died April 30th, 1802, and sleeps in yonder cemetery. His wife bore the singular 
name of Silence, so that every time he called her to his side he bade her keep 
her tongue still. He named his only daugliter Silence.* 

Tlie town soon recuperated from the exhausting effect of the devolution, 
and nuiny improvements were, from time to time, introduced. The stocks were 
knocked overboard, a nuire liberal style of living was adopted, and the old 
homesteads gradually assumed a neater and more beautiful appearance. A 
post-office was established in 1790, under the management of Mr. Jonathan 
Bowers. Some five years later, a stage-coach passed through the town, making 
its way from Amherst, N. II., to Boston in about two days. It was "the sensa- 
tion " of tlie period. 

On the 7th of January, 1798, the fourth meeting-house was dedicated, and 
its fine architectural proportions indicate the taste of the people at that time. 

Xothwtihstanding the depletion of the population by the formation of 
Carlisle, in 1780, the town at the commencement of the present century con- 
tained 1888 inhabitants, and perhaps " tlie Corner," where the stages parted for 
Salem, was the busiest section. 

In 1808 a clock, the bequest of the good Dea. Joshua Abliot, who also left 
the town a legacy for the support of sacred music, was placed upon the tower of 
the church. 

The Orthodox meeting-house was dedicated January :'.0, 1880, and in the 
year ensuing, the Baptist meeting-house ;it tlie " Corner," wiiich was subse(iuently 
removed to the centre of the town. 

*St'e the Stickuey Family, p. 1:^0. 



22 

On the 29th of May, 1855, the town held a grand bi-centennial celebration, 
and listened to an eloquent address from the Hon. Joseph Eichardson, a distin- 
guished native of the place, who grew up under the tutelage of the Rev. Dr. 
Cuniniings. 

When the last war broke out in 18(il, Eillerica was as prompt as in the old 
Revolution to respond to the call of duty. From N. D. P. Foster, the first man 
who enlisted, we reckon one hundred and forty-seven soldiers and seamen 
furnished by this town; and from Xew Orleans to Gettysburg, the sods of the 
battlefield drank their blood. 

By his munificence an honored citizen of the town established a Baptist 
church to meet the wants of the increasing population of North Billerica; and 
soon afterwards a Romanist church arose in that locality for the accommoda- 
tion of our Catholic brethren. 

In respect to education, this town has ever manifested a lively interest. As 
early as 1679, the good Dea. Joseph Thompson tauglit the children how "to 
read and write;" there were also "women schole dames," who either scolded or 
kept school— perhaps they did a little of both. Master Jonathan Kidder, H. C. 
1751, was long a noted teacher here. He kept what was called a "moving 
school," and the town was divided into "squadrons" for this purpose. There 
was a grammar school-house at the Centre as early as 1757. Br. Ebenezer Pem- 
berton had a respectable academy here from 1797 to 1808; and from 1821 to 
1830 "the Billerica Academy " shed its genial rays of light through the com- 
munity. " The Howe School," founded by the liberality of the distinguished 
pliysician. Dr. Zadok Howe, and dedicated May 31, 1852, is a benison to this 
whole region, and our public schools, sustained by an annual appropriation of 
about ii!3,200, are as good as any in the state. 

As a result of this long continued interest in the cause of education, Billerica 
has produced its full quota of distinguished men and women, teachers, orators, 
advocates, statesmen, physicians and divines, whose names, did time permit, I 
very gladly would repeat. But among this number I cannot forbear to mention 
that of Major Samuel Parker, the original inventor of the leather-splitting 
machine, by which millions of dollars have been added to the wealth of the 
country ; that of Miss Elizabeth Peabody, author of many valuable works on 
education; and, do you think, ladies and gentlemen, that New Hampshire ever 
had a better governor than Onslow Stearns, or this old Bay State than Thomas 
Talbot ? 

Above most of our other towns, Billerica has, from the outset, been felicit- 
ous in her professional and public men. From honest Joseph Thompson down 
to Samuel Tucker, it has had good teachers ; from the Rev. Sanniel Whiting 
down to the present reverend pastors, it has had good preachers. Its deacons 
have been honest deacons. Its physicians, from Dr. Roger Toothaker down to 
Dr. George Albert Monroe, sustain a noble record ; and its military men have 
done their duty. Hence, as I believe, the town has, from the start, been making 
progress ; slow indeed, but certain, to this very hour. 



23 

This progri'S!<, like tlie growtli of lliese tall pines tiiat lnfatlu' their imisie 
(iver us, has been so i,n-a(lual as to escape daily observation ; liut compare it by 
long perioils, as from 1776 to 1876, and it becomes very distinctly visible. Please 
think of it ! In 1776 it took the town a year or more, and gallons of grog, to 
throw a bridge across this Concord river; now yon do it as a pastime, with the 
best of all beverages, cold water. 

Then the ladies came to cliurch on pillions, or on foot ; l)Ut now they ride in 
decent carriages. Then the only musical instrument in the church was an old 
wooden pitch-pipe ; now you listen to the sweet-toned organ. Then they sat 
through the Kev. Dr. Cummings' long discourse with frozen toes and fingers ; 
now the furnace aud the stove impart their genial warmth. 

Then the school-books were the "New England rrimer" and the "Psal- 
ter ; " now they present the finest specimens of our English literature. Tlien 
the children were pushed up the ladder of learning by the tingling twigs of the 
white birch tree ; now they ascend much higher by the sweet music of persuasion. 

Then the plow was but a crooked stick with a wooden coulter; now it is an 
instrument fit for a king to follow. Then brown l)read and Indian pudding, 
boiled so hard that you could roll it as a nine-pin ball across the floor, were the 
main' pabulum ; now you have the finest flour, and refined sugar to sweeten it. 

Then the odoriferous dye-pot stood in the capacious chinuiey corner, the 
clumsy hand-loom near it ; now the comfortable stove, and the elegant piano 
take the place of them. 

Then the town had several haunted houses, and almost every person stood 
in fear of evil spirits, spectres, apparitions ; now the ghosts and goblins have 
gone under. 

Then they lighted the houses, church and all, by dim talhnv candles, started 
by a fiint and tinder box ; now you have the brilliant gas, or kerosene. 

Then they carried on a courtship, sitting in high-backed iiine settees, or 
settles, as they called them, until the binls began to sing in the morning; now 
you sit on crimson cushioned sofas, and, 1 hope, retire in season. 

Then what the Rev. Henry Cunnnings thought and taught was " law and 
gospel ;" now you have opinions of your own, and dare to avow them. Then 
they had no instruments of martial music but the drum, the fife and trumpet; 
now you have a military band of many pieces. Then they had no poet here ; 
now you have one of the seventh generation from an original settler, who 
rhymes as easily as the floM'ers exhale their perfume. Then this town had no 
manufactories ; now you make woolens, dye-stuffs, chemicals for the millions. 

Then numy persons in the town could not spell " r.illerica;" now, I think, 
all over ten years old can do it — some wa,\ . 

So you see the nuirks of progress everywhere, and none except the author 
of "The Lost Arts" thinks that we and all the rest of the world are going the 
other way. Each generation passing has left us something, and have we not then 
some reason, ladies and gentlemen, as we behold our present jjrosperity as a town, 
the virtue, intelligence, industry, urbanity and comfort of our people, now in 



24 

tlip coinim-iu'eineiit of anotlier century, louming up with a resplendence hitherto 
unknown, — have we not, I ask, some reason to thank God to-day, and take 
courage for new enterprise and higher vantage ground '. 

But what is to he done '. Much, every way, hut most respectfully I M-ould 
suggest these points : 

I. Our town records, whicli have been admirably kept, from Danforth 
down to Foster, need immediate attention. They are among our most precious 
treasures, worthy to be set in gold ; but the early books are worn and torn — in 
I)art illegible. Should not then some person, well skilled in ancient script, be 
em))loyed, as soon as possible, to transcribe them? For what is the use in 
recording unless we take pains to preserve the record '. 

II. From the faint tracings I have this hour presented from these records, 
is it not evident that this town has done some things worthy to be printed in the 
form of a local history '. Well, then, shall not measures be adopted, ere the 
early records perish, and the dear old people pass away, for the accomplishment 
of such a work '. 

III. The town has generously raised a granite monument to perpetuate the 
memory of those brave men who fell in our late war. Will it not then consent to 
lift another shaft upon its beautiful common, that shall bear on one sidft the 
names of those killed by the Indians, on another face the names of those killed 
in the old French war, and still on another front the names of those who were 
lost in the great Revolution 1 And should not the name of Asa Pollard lead the 
roll of honor 'i 

IV. Will you permit me also to submit whether the ancient central ceme- 
tery, which enshrines the sacred dust of so many worthies of this town, which 
strangers come from afar to visit, and to trace therefrom their genealogies, has 
received those decorative touches which the taste of this progressive age 
demands ? 

V. Also with great respect I would remind you that, with all its improve- 
ments, Billerica still needs a public library, in which the literary productions of 
its sons and daughters, together with the relics of the olden times and specimens 
of the natural curiosities of the place, might be preserved for the instruction and 
divertisement of the people, and then, 

VI. For the benefit of us all who are, and are to come, may I not just 
breathe — a railroad ! Yes, a railroad, and these whispering pines seem to res- 
pond — "a railroad!" This centennial year, a railroad, just to waken us from 
our slumbers, and to let the outside world realize that Billerica still lives ! 
Nature has made the pathway, the means are in your hands. Business demands 
it, you can have it if you will. Now will you have it ? But these are not ser- 
monic applications ; they are merely whisperings tojnen of wisdom. 

As she now stands, Billerica is a grand old historic town, full of dear associ- 
ations, scenic beauty, and generous hearted people,— a fair gem in the diadem 
of tlie nation ! 



25 

I have travelled over these United States and observed, to some extent, the 
habits and the industries of the people ; I have crossed the sea, and studied long 
the cities, towns and villages, the customs and the institutions of old Europe, and 
I can, from the innermost chamber of my heart, affirm tliat I have found in this 
wide world, no kinder, better, liappior pcojjle than in Billerica ; no spot where I 
would rather live, or sleep my final sleep. 

But our felicity, ladies and gentlemen, consists in progress. Then sliall we 
not aspire to be a still kinder, lovelier, wiser, heavenlier community. Shall we 
not still rise in strength and beauty, and, as our centennial elm ascends from 
year to year, and spreads forth its graceful branches and its verdant foliage, 
comforting and protecting many, shall not we thus lifting our arms heavenward, 
grow in every grace and virtue, and pass the loveliness of noble deeds onward to 
the coming generations, so that the speaker at the next centennial, in looking 
back may trace a still grander progress than we have done, and most devoutly 
say, as we now do, God uless the town of Billerica ! 






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